


day 6: meet the parents

by halfwheeze



Series: thirty ways to wreck a train [6]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety, M/M, meet the parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 00:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13986453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: shane has a bout of anxiety before a big event. ryan helps.





	day 6: meet the parents

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is day six of a 30-day series I'm trying out! I can't say that I'll be fantastic at it, but I'm gonna try!
> 
> Day six is new to the family! Hope you enjoy!

He can’t do this. He can’t fucking do this. He knows he told Ryan that he could and he would, but he’s pacing around their hotel room because he can’t fucking do this and he told Ryan he was going to freak out, by Ryan is downstairs talking about the room key, some issue that Shane doesn’t remember in the moment. He can not fucking do this. This is not going to go well, they’re going to hate him, he’s going to lose some of his only supportive network in California and he’s going to fuck this up and it’s going to be awful. Repetitive intrusive thoughts tell him that he’s going to mess up his whole life in a series of simple interactions, and, like, how can he argue with this foolproof logic? It’s all making sense, cause, like, he’s a fuck up, he’s good at fucking things up. 

Disneyland is a good place to meet someone’s family, right? Even if it’s awkward as all fuck (which, knowing Shane, it will be), everyone is still having a good time. He wants them to like him so much that it nearly hurts; he didn’t want so badly for  _ Ryan  _ to like him right off the bat when they first met. Of course, they were just coworkers back then, potential friends that his mother told him to act like himself around (okay so he called his mom from twenty-eight hours away because it was his first day of work, but that was years ago and he’s grown now). He’s not technically meeting Ryan’s family anyway; he’s met them as Ryan’s best friend, just not as Ryan’s… they don’t use the word boyfriend. A lot of people think it’s because it’s too much, but Shane thinks it’s not enough. He’s just Ryan’s. 

Ryan’s brother likes him. He’s a cool kid and Shane isn’t meeting him again today, but it’s reassuring to know that he already has the kid on his side. He only knows so much about Ryan’s parents, but he thinks they might already like him too. He’s been Ryan’s friend for years, of course, so maybe it’ll be fine. He’s talking himself off of the wall when Ryan comes in, grinning and looking no worse for wear, immediately walking across the room to hold Shane’s face in his hands, looking up with a smile just for him. Shane relaxes just a little bit despite himself, feeling himself fold in on Ryan. Ryan pulls him down until their foreheads touch, Shane swaying until they’re much too close, but still not close enough. 

“How you holding up, big guy?” Ryan asks, their noses touching now, reassuring him in closeness. Ryan’s language of love has always been physical affection, which Shane loves, but he needs a little of his own: words of affirmation. There are six in total that are wandering off in Shane’s mind, becoming private tangents of their own that distract from both his anxiety, which is good, and Ryan, which is bad. He needs to pay attention to feel better, to feel validated and good and like he can do this, like he can conquer the world just because Ryan says he can. Well, that’s a little dramatic. 

“I’m… less than okay. Talk to me?” Shane replies, leaning forward even more to tuck his head against Ryan’s neck, settling close to him. Ryan’s left hand immediately moves to card through his hair, tangling his fingers in at the nape of Shane’s neck and pulling him impossibly closer. There’s a few moments of silence where Ryan seems to be gearing up, and Shane puts hands on Ryan’s lower back. There’s reassurance in the physical touch because even though that’s not Shane, it is most definitely Ryan; there is a list of people Shane could count on one hand he would allow within half a foot of him, let alone as close as Ryan is in this very moment. It’s completely Ryan. 

“You’re going to do great. My parents already know you, they already love you, they’ve loved you for years. You’re so good with them and so good with really, real adults, and you’re just a good person, and I love you. You’re my happy place and they know it. It’s going to be fine,” Ryan says against his temple, placing a kiss on it and running his hand along the back of Shane’s hair again. Shane’s arms around Ryan’s waist tighten, squeezing him into an embrace just a shade tighter than before. They hold that for a second longer before relaxing, Shane leaning back a little to smile softly at Ryan. 

“I’m in love with you. And you’re my happy place too, by the way,” Shane says, placing a soft kiss on Ryan’s brow bone. Ryan pulls away completely and extricates himself from Shane’s arms, picking up Shane’s shoes and shoving them at him. 

“Enough feelings, let’s get this show on the road. You’ve met my parents before, you can do it again,” Ryan snickers, throwing a pair of socks from Shane’s bag at him as well. Shane is nearly done by the time Ryan sits down next to him on the bed, with only his left shoe left to tie. He gets distracted by Ryan, because he always gets distracted by Ryan, because Ryan is pretty and distracting and the worst. He’s even more distracted by the feeling of Ryan’s lips against his neck, and then his tongue, and Shane is just trying to tie a fucking shoe. He turns and catches Ryan’s lips with his own, a single kiss before he turns back to tying his shoe, getting it done quickly with having distracted his distraction. 

“Dirty trick, Madej,” Ryan laughs, just leaving a wet kiss on his cheek this time instead of going in for the kill. Shane laughs, turning to give Ryan’s forehead a drier kiss of his own that’s more grin than anything else. 

“How about I don’t re-meet your parents with a hickey?” he proposes, raising his eyebrows. Ryan rolls his eyes. 

“I  _ guess _ ,” he groans, false sarcasm and laughter, and Shane feels pretty at peace again. He can do this. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a prompt @halfwheeze on tumblr, and I'll get to it when I can!


End file.
